


Dance in the Dark

by smaragdbird



Category: Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Books, Cullen makes an appearance, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Slice of Life, how finn and hadley survived the events in the tower
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-24
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-07-26 12:18:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7573780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smaragdbird/pseuds/smaragdbird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ever wondered how FInn and Knight-Captain Hadley survived Uldred's takeover?</p><p>They were in Orlais, at a bookfair, enjoying life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dance in the Dark

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [this ](http://dragonage-kink.livejournal.com/2508.html?thread=3697356#t3697356) prompt

“An escort? To a bookfair?” Greagoir asked as if Finn’s request had suddenly changed during the last ten minutes. Hadley was certain that this conversation had only dragged on for so long because Irving and Greagoir had a bet going who would start laughing first.

“A bookfair in Val Royaux”, Finn added. “These are dangerous times. I could get lost or kidnapped.”

“You’re a mage”, Greagoir said so dryly that Hadley felt the urge to check if Lake Calenhad was still there. “I’m sure you’ll manage.”

“But there are so many reports of darkspawn around”, Finn protested.

“Darkspawn in the Korcari Wilds, which is the exact opposite direction of where you’re going”, Greagoir said.

“The White Spire Circle may recruit me”, Finn replied.

“Finn is our foremost expert on old elven linguistics”, Irving added. He looked far too amused by this whole charade.

“Whatever shall we do?” Greagoir deadpanned.

“Give me Hadley as an escort”, Finn answered without a hint of sarcasm. 

“Look at Ser Hadley, Greagoir, he’s quite pale. I think a nice trip to Val Royaux would do him some good”, Irving said, still sort of but not quite smiling.

“I would, sir”, Hadley agreed when Greagoir looked in his direction. “I may even find some new novels for the other knights to read. It’d be good for morale.” He wondered if it would have been easier if he and Finn had asked for leave separately.

“I don’t know”, Greagoir said deliberately contemplatively. “Val Royaux holds many dangers for a young Ferelden templar. I’m sure I can find something for Hadley to do here. The refractorium desperately needs dusting.”

“You can’t let me go on my own”, Finn almost yelled. “I could run away!”

That last sentence was so outrageously untrue that Hadley had to press his hand to his mouth to keep from bursting out loud. He could see Greagoir biting his cheeks to prevent the same reaction. Only Irving kept his composure if by composure one meant the far too amused smirk he had worn during the whole conversation.

“Yes, we’re weighing that risk against the others”, he said. “And as you said, there are darkspawn and possible bandits and all sorts of dangers that a mage like you could not possibly face alone. I believe you should grant Finn his request to be accompanied to the Val Royaux bookfair by Ser Hadley.”

“You’ve won me over”, Greagoir said with suspiciously twitching lips. “You both have my permission to leave the Circle for this excursion.”

Finn could barely keep a grin off his face. “Thank you!”

“Thank you, sir”, Hadley said as well. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he and Finn had played right into whatever bet Irving and Greagoir had going with each other but whatever it was, he had just gotten three weeks alone with Finn out of it.

/

“Three weeks, that means we can be there for the whole fair!” Finn grinned as they made their way down from Irving’s office. Sometimes Hadley questioned the wisdom of putting the Circle in a tower especially when it came to the older members. “I need to make a list. Ask the others which books they want.”

Hadley wondered if Irving and Greagoir should’ve imposed a spending limit on Finn’s journey. Out loud he said, “That’s a good idea. I bet the others have a long list of trashy novels they want me to pick up.”

“Sword and Shield”, Finn coughed and when Hadley glared at him, he gave him a sweet smile. “Rumours has it there’s going to be book dealers from Tevinter. Imagine what books they could have! Perhaps even a grammar for arcane elvhen. Oh Maker please.”

Finn’s single minded enthusiasm for books was nothing new but it still made Hadley feel ever so slightly insecure. While new novels would be welcome, his priority on this journey certainly weren’t the books. “It’s not just the books though, right?”

“Why would I do this trip if it wasn’t to acquire new books?” Finn looked genuinely baffled. “We need to leave the tower. It’s cold.”

“It’s summer.”

“There are mosquitoes. And we might get ambushed, hopefully though not on the way back when we have all the books with us”, he added. “And as dangerous as those inns are we’ll have to share a room, a bed preferably. As a templar you need to keep an eye on me at any time.”

Hadley couldn’t believe he had fallen for this again. “Any time, huh?” He started backing Finn against a wall. “You’re right. You did say you may run away. I better watch you closely.” He was about to lean in and kiss Finn when someone cleared their throat.

“Sorry, Captain, sir?” It was Cullen, one of the new knights, fresh from the monastery near Honleath. 

“What is it?” Hadley knew he wasn’t to blame but he couldn’t quite keep his tone civil.

“The inspection reports, sir”, Cullen’s eyes flickered from Hadley to Finn and back, slowly realising what he had interrupted. “You said you wanted them immediately.”

Hadley glared at him.

“On your desk. I’ll go, sir”, he fled the hallway.

Finn snickered. “I heard Neria is keen to get a leg over that boy as soon as possible.”

“She has her work cut out for her then. He can barely string a sentence together when someone says anything flirty in his presence.”

“Wonder how he gets even a word out”, Finn said and Hadley didn’t miss how his eyes trailed after Cullen’s retreating figure.

“I’m right here.”

“And that’s where you’ll be the next three weeks. Think about it”, Finn’s voice dropped suggestively. “We can finally be loud.”

Hadley swallowed. “Keep this up and I might run away with you.”

Finn laughed and shook his head. “In your dreams, Knight-Captain.”

/

The journey to Val Royaux went smoothly and faster than Hadley had anticipated. Under King Cailan trade relations had been picked up with Orlais again and it was easy to find a caravan heading to Jader and hire passage on a ship to Val Royaux from there.

It was far harder to secure a room once they arrived there. Val Royaux was busy with visitors at all times but the book fair drew in even more people than usual and the city was teeming with foreigners.

Hadley knew better than to follow Finn around all day. For one it could undermine Finn’s authority during his bartering, which he was as skilled at as an old fishwife. And it was distracting for Hadley to see Finn this self-assured and confident. Also it would be boring for him and disappointing for Finn when Hadley inevitably didn’t share his enthusiasm for whatever obscure linguistic book Finn would find.

And it wasn’t as if he had to be afraid that Finn would run away.

So instead Hadley visited some of the other charms Val Royaux had to offer, some that he wanted to drag Finn to as well as soon as the book fair had ended.

The Cathedral alone was worth the trip. It was breathtaking and the Chant of Light filled the air wherever he went. When he had gone to Denerim, he had thought the cathedral there had been the most beautiful building he had ever seen.

The White Spire gleamed in the sunlight like the snow covered top of a mountain but it had its fair share of quarters at ground level, something that made Hadley think of the numerous complaints from the older mages about the stairs back home.

Apart from the Cathedral, the gardens impressed him the most. In Ferelden the only gardens he could remember existed to have vegetables, herbs and fruits grown in them, not to take strolls. Well, you could take strolls in them but that wasn’t their primary purpose. In Ferelden nothing really existed just for decorative purposes while so much here in Val Royaux did, that Hadley found it distracting.

/

No one bat an eye at Finn walking around in his robes. For one Val Royaux had a more relaxed attitude when it came to mages and two for the book fair nearly all Circles had sent some mages to Val Royaux. When Hadley returned he found Finn chatting with an elf whose facial tattoos marked him as a Dalish and whose accent suggested he came from Rivain.

“And on LLomerryn, are there – “Finn was about to ask when he noticed Hadley, “Hey.”

“Hey”, Hadley replied. “How did it go?”

“Did you know that there are sea-faring Dalish clans? Only they’re not really Dalish because they never lived in the Dales. Tarith told me he met them when he took passage on one of their ships from LLomerryn to Rivain.”

Tarith gave Hadley a nod. “It’s rare to find a human with such enthusiasm for my culture.”

Enthusiasm was one way to put, Hadley thought. “Did you get any books that are not about elvhen linguistics?”

Finn blushed slightly. “Yes.”

“More than one?”

“Yes.”

“Finn managed to acquire the entire `Pirates of LLomerry’ anthology for your Circle”, Tarith said. “The Quartermaster was close to tears when Finn finally agreed to the deal.”

“He was an asshole”, Finn muttered.

Hadley raised his eyebrows. Finn usually wasn’t one to throw insults around. “Did he question the use of linguistics as a research-worthy subject?”

The last time a visiting scholar had done just that, Finn had gone on a rant that left the woman truly chastised and possibly a bit scared of Finn.

Finn shook his head. “He wanted to charge Tarith four Drakons for Zola’s comprehensive collection of Northern herbs. Four Drakons! You’d think it was Jainen’s Water Plants of the Waking Sea.”

“Finn got it off him for twenty silver”, Tarith said and motioned to the book he had in his bag. “As part of the deal where Finn almost made him cry. He’ll be relieved of his post once the story makes it back to Diarsmuid.” His smile indicated that he had every intention of making sure that it did. “It was nice to meet you, Finn.”

“Likewise”, Finn said sincerely. “Maybe we can meet for lunch tomorrow. I’d love to hear more about the Dalish.”

“And I’ll be glad to tell you”, Tarith said as a goodbye.

Hadley felt just the slightest shiver of jealousy at the way Finn and Tarith smiled at each other. Not that he thought that Finn would run away with Dalish but there was obviously a connection there.

“Let’s get dinner”, Hadley said. “And then you can tell me more about your day. It seems it was a lot more adventurous than mine.”

/

The next few days went pretty much in the same manner, although one afternoon Hadley was forced to tag along with Finn after Finn had gotten into a shouting match with another mage from the White Spire Circle. The only reason neither of them had been arrested had been that the issue of their argument was too complicated for anyone who hadn’t studied linguistics deeply to understand. Suffice to say that even in Val Royaux none of the magistrates were too interested in the finer points of ancient elvhen linguistics.

Neither was Hadley but at least it meant he got to watch Finn haggle like a seasoned fishmonger. And there was certainly an appeal in watching Finn transform into someone so assertive and determined he managed to cower most book dealers into accepting his offers.

Hadley wasn’t shy about letting Finn know how much he appreciated that side of him.

“Fuck, what’s gotten into you today?” Finn asked when Hadley collapsed on his chest. He sounded hoarse which was no surprise considering Hadley had spent the last hour or so riding him at a maddeningly slow pace. If anyone in the inn didn’t know they were fucking yet it wasn’t for the lack of trying to convey that fact.

“Watching you beat them into submission just using your words was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen”, Hadley replied. He felt pleasantly sore and despite knowing that they should clean up he couldn’t find it in him to move. “We have two more days”, Hadley said as he trailed kisses over Finn’s chest. “Let’s ditch the uniform for a day and pretend we’re a normal couple.”

“Are you asking me to run away with you, Knight-Captain?” Finn pretended to be scandalized.

“Just for one day.”

Finn caressed his cheek. “Let’s run then.”

/

To take Finn’s hand in public as they walked down the streets, to wrap his arm around Finn’s shoulders as sat at the edge of the lake and watched the sun being reflected by the waves, to kiss him whenever he felt like it, was a freedom Hadley hadn’t known he wanted until he had it. 

He and Finn had been sneaking around for years but in some ways it felt as if their relationship had only just started. Being outside the tower and the anonymity of a city where no one knew or cared who they were allowed them to do so many things for the first time.

“What are you thinking about?” Finn asked, rousing him from his thoughts. 

Hadley realised he had been blankly staring at his food for the past minute or so. But now he looked at Finn and smiled. “You.”

“Good thoughts?” Finn grinned.

Hadley’s heart clenched when he thought about the fact that they would be leaving the day after tomorrow. And sure they would still have the journey back but then they would be in the Tower again, hiding and sneaking around. For a moment he didn’t know if he could back to that, now that he had had a taste of how normal couples lived.

“I could write. Ask them for one more week. Say we have some trouble arranging the transport of all the books you bought”, Hadley said.

The look Finn gave him held a sad understanding. “Having one more week will make returning even harder.”

“Indulge me”, Hadley asked.

Finn shook his head. “Don’t do this. The longer we stay the harder it will be to return. The only way to have this kind of life permanently would be to run away and neither of us would be happy with that.”

“You’re right”, Hadley said. Of course Finn was right, but that didn’t make it any easier. “It’s just...it’s unfair.”

“Look at it this way, if it wasn’t for the Tower we would’ve never met”, Finn tried to lift his mood.

/

“What do you mean the roads are close?” Hadley asked. He and Finn had reached Jader this morning by ship. He had already noticed that the city had seemed busier than last time but hadn’t paid much attention to it.

“Ferelden closed its border to Orlais”, the man replied. “I hear there are some boats still sailing from the Marches but even they might stop soon.”

“But why?”

The man shrugged. “The Blight, the civil war, take your pick.”

“It seems”, Finn said slowly, “You’ll get your week.”

**Author's Note:**

> Yup, the scene where Cullen interrupts Hadley and Finn is straight from DAI ;)
> 
> I wondered what could lure Finn away from the Tower and a bookfair seemed to be the only feasible explanation.
> 
> Find me [ here](http://smaragdbird.tumblr.com/) on tumblr


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